It was the vital part played by the United States in Europe's Ryder Cup victory. When Rory McIlroy came within minutes of being late for his tee time for Sunday's singles,help was at hand – from opposition sources.

The officer who sped McIlroy on the 12-mile journey from his hotel to the Medinah course has been named as Pat Rollins, the deputy chief of the Lombard police department. Europe's team autographed two Medinah flags during their celebrations on Sunday evening, which will be sent to Rollins as a "thank you" gesture.

Two US PGA transport officials, Maggie Budzar and Erica Stoll, who co-ordinated player-shuttle services to the Ryder Cup venue, also offered crucial assistance to McIlroy.

Budzar said: "It was 10.30am, I knew [McIlroy's caddie] JP Fitzgerald had left about an hour earlier. I knew Rory's tee time was 11.25 and he was the third group to go off. And we still hadn't seen him.

"I started getting worried that something had happened to him or that he had taken a different ride to the course. There was only one room still in use when housekeeping checked and a male voice said not to come in. We figured it had to be him because by now we knew he wasn't at the course.

"I called the guys at the driving range to see if they had seen him. They hadn't so I called the European Tour officials to alert them. At first I was going to drive him to the course because I knew the way and we didn't want to put a volunteer under stress in the courtesy car. I then asked a trooper at the front if he could take him with the flash light on. He said that would be OK. I gave Rory the choice and he went straight to the front seat of the trooper's car. That was about 10.52."

The world No1 misunderstood his start time as an hour later, owing to the difference between Eastern and Central United States zones. Had the player arrived on the course within five minutes of 11.25, he would simply have lost the first hole. Any later and the match would have been forfeited to the United States.

"He was nervous. If I was in his shoes I'd have been as well," said Rollins. "I had gone to the hotel to check in with our officers. I realised that one player had not come down from their room yet to get transported by the drivers to the course."

"He rode in the front passenger's seat with me. We whisked him away up to the course. I had radioed ahead, just to make sure certain lanes of traffic were opened for us so we could make it to the course with time to spare. He was receiving a lot of phone calls en route. We had minimal conversation but he was a great gentleman."

Rollins told Radio 5: "I took it as a job well done. I'm getting ribbed at work for this but in the end I am very proud of our force and our community. We did the right thing and of course I would have done the same for the American team."